


They've Got the Kingdom Locked Up

by Darkmagyk, IaMcHrIsSi



Series: Straight for the Castle [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, Padme Lives
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-27
Updated: 2016-01-27
Packaged: 2018-05-16 16:29:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,317
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5832637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Darkmagyk/pseuds/Darkmagyk, https://archiveofourown.org/users/IaMcHrIsSi/pseuds/IaMcHrIsSi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Her Excellency, Senator Padme Amidala, beloved queen, fallen woman, and daughter of Naboo gives a speech in honor of the fifth anniversary of the rise of the Empire.</p>
            </blockquote>





	They've Got the Kingdom Locked Up

Her Excellency, Senator Padme Amidala, beloved Queen, fallen woman, and disgraced daughter of Naboo, is beautiful. No one could deny that. And she is never more stunning as when she dresses up for her annual Empire Day broadcast. 

She wears an elaborate silver dress. A silver velvet shift, with a shimmering silk overcoat. Her dark hair is twisted on top of her hair, to make a platform for the silver headpiece, a circle halo and a wispy veil down her back. (When she had been discussing the design for this dress, she’d given the same missive as she does every year. She wants to look like an angel. Always and forever.)

But her glittering gown (glowing under the lighting effect) is not the focal point of the look. She wears make up as a matter of course, obviously. The kind one needs to make sure you're well known and striking features can be made out on holos all across the galaxy. But on top of that, she paints the old marks. The Queen’s marks she had once given up. 

The red lines rested on her naked face whenever she took to the holonet. 

For different occasions she wore different marks, but on Empire Day it is always the same. Mark of remembrance, and marks of mourning. 

She remembers a great many things. The Democratic Republic. Those lost in the Clone Wars, the Fallen Jedi, and all of those who were lost under Palpatine’s reign. 

But she mourned only one. 

“ _Today is the Anniversary of the day I lost my daughter._ ” She says. And she’s always had the perfect voice for this kind of speaking. (She’s trained in debate, of course, in rhetoric and syntax and winning, but it's never been her real gift. Her gift is passion and emotion and stirring something inside the listener. 

Once this gift gave her power, but also made her naive and trusting. She believed, when she swayed people to her side, it was a matter of helping them remember what was right, and what they had meant to be doing all along.

That had cost her everything. She is not so careless now.) 

“ _Today is the day we lost our Republic._ ” (It takes just five seconds for her to say the opening she and Satine had spent so many hours crafting. A reminder to the citizens of the galaxy, everyone listening to the pirated broadcast, of both the personal and political price of the new order).

“ _Both were stolen by the Emperor and his attack dog._ ” (The more cynical, sitting in bars and cantina’s and pubs throughout the galaxy, have began there drinking game. One drink for every time she brings up the what was suppose to be the Emperor’s secret weapon, two drinks for every belittling nickname she levels at Darth Vader.) 

“ _This is a hard day for use all. We lost much in the Clone Wars, we lost more when our peacekeepers were murdered. We lost everything when our liberty and sovereignty and sentient rights were stripped away._

_“Now we do what we can to scrape it all back. Our goal, my goal, has only ever been peace. A safe Galaxy where families can enjoy happiness, and children can grow up loved and safe._

_“That is all I wanted for my family. A quiet life with my daughter and husband on Naboo. But that life was stole from by the Emperor and Darth Vader. And now they steal it from families in every system._

_“We have no wish for battle, but the Emperor and Moff Tarkin court war. They grow their armies, they waste money and resources and sentient lives building ridiculous ships, and then they attack innocents, wipe out planets for the perceived wrongdoing of one or two. We have no choice but to respond in kind._

“ _The Emperor and his propaganda machine, Agent Paven, Commander Antilles, Lady Heying, writers and storytellers, trained at the University of Coruscant for nothing but lies, would have you believe we are insurgents, or rebels. Be we are nothing of the kind. We are friends and Allies who want freedom and justice restored. We are the Alliance to Restore the Republic._ ” 

From the solemn line behind her, The Duchess Satine Kryzes of Mandalore shifts her sleeping princess more securely on her hip, and leans in to pat Senator Amidala on the shoulder. Kind and comforting as her friend is overcome with emotion. (Staged and timed and practiced dozens of times, until it looks natural).

“ _But there is hope_ ,” And her smile is small and sad, haunted by all of her loss, but its real (its not real. It's practiced and worn. Very little can cause her a real smile these days) 

“ _Citizens rise up for themselves and their freedom everyday. New children are born and learn to be brave and strong.”_ She glances at Satine’s elder daughter, also asleep in her chair (that was not calculated or planned, five year olds are not known for being great PR reps. But it's cute, it tugs at heartstrings. It works better then a board five year old, no matter how frilly her dress) 

“ _Our Peacekeepers keep trying to protect use and restore our democracy_.” 

(Behind her right shoulder, across from Satine and her redheaded children, Depa Billaba and Caleb Dume stand in classic Jedi robes, light sabers front and strategically placed on their belt to be seen from angle of the holo recorder. Caleb’s hair is longer, his padawan braid is cut. They released a statement about his knighting, and left out the part where he’s still too young, and it was a matter of self preservation, the braid making them to easy to spot on there undercover missions.) 

“ _Our soldiers liberate worlds._ ” (They aren't here. Their general is mad at her. That distance grows everyday. They really are just allies now, not friends anymore. Even Ahsoka isn't here)

“ _I only wish my little Shmi could have been here to see it._ ” And the tears follow. (The tears are real, but they aren't tears of sadness, they are her righteous fury. They glide over her waterproof mascara and smudge resistant red paint, and shift her from an angle to a goddess.) 

“ _I wish my husband had not tried to kill me when I went to make sure he was safe after I caught wind of the Jedi purges. I wish he had not killed our baby because his new puppet master knew she would be strong in the force, and I would not stand for his actions. I miss my Shmi Skywalker._ ” (Always Skywalker, even if by Naboo tradition it should be Amidala, she will not let them forget the name of the man under the mask. Fear of a name increases fear of a thing, she will not let Palpatine’s black knight become scarier than he is. 

She will remind the Galaxy of the junkyard slave. And she will remind the junkyard slave of the mother he has betrayed. Her words are best when they are at their most petty, aiming for one target instead of billions) 

“ _I mourn with all mothers who lost children in the savagely engineered Clone War. I mourn for the mothers who lost children in the conquest of the Empire since. I mourn for the mother’s of the empire whose children were lost in senseless battle when Palpatine led them to the slaughter. I mourn for the children like Shmi, and who were lost before they could grow up. and I mourn for the children like Ana-Nella and Mara-Jade, forced to grow up under the tyranny of Empire, homeworld lost to his machinations, father nearly killed in the bid for power.”_

(And he’s not there. Padme had wanted him, but when he denied her use of his troops, he refused to appear as well. She likes the image of Satine and Obi-Wan and their two children. It proves Palpatine’s line wrong, Obi-Wan disobeyed the code, had children, and didn’t turn into a power mad, crazed zealot. But for all they called him the negotiator in the last war, Obi-Wan would rather his lightsaber to speak then his words. He doesn’t much like her approach.) 

“ _I mourn for each and everyone of us. Even Palpatine, stripped of honest emotion and real friends. And Anakin Skywalker, once again a slave to an unforgiving and evil master._ ” 

_“I mourn for what we must do, I mourn for what we have to endured. But I do not mourn for the future. I know that we are strong and that we are good and that the sentiants of the Galaxy will throw off the yoke of evil. Today as we all mourn in public and in private, as the Emperor wastes our resources for his self-congratulatory show, I have but one sentiment to share with you. May The Force Be With Us All.”_

***

Her speech is still bouncing around the holonet two days later, even though she is sure the Empire's top engineers are racing to take it down. She’s proud of that. 

They piggybacked off of the Empire's own signals this time. Obi-Wan’s new contract had provided the code. She doesn't know who it is, and Obi-Wan’s so annoyed with her these days, she hasn’t bothered to ask a second time, but she won’t look a gift horse in the mouth. They also gave him the names and backgrounds of Palpatine’s three favorite spin masters. Name dropping publicist is a great way to break an allusion. Its also likely the reason the Empire has not released as counter statement. 

She’s rewatching the recording in hyperspace, taking notes on what works and what doesn't. Unless something spectacular happens soon, she likely won’t be on air for another month or so. Empire day is a big deal, she must make sure such appearances are special. But she never stops planning. Her message. The entire Alliance’s message, must be consistent and clear. Obi-Wan can shoot at whoever he wants. Bail can funnel money. Mon can introduce legislation in the Senate. Satine can spout ideology. Padme Amidala must create a unified front of hope. 

But she’s not going to have much time over the next week. So she needs to do all the research now so she can do the mental work when she’s indisposed. 

She comes out of hyperspace over Takodana. It’s beautiful from a distance. It looks like Naboo. That’s why she choose it, after all. She’d even offered it to her parents and sister, when they were forced to resettle. They had rejected it, too upset with her, throwing away everything for some silly rebellion. At the time she’d been almost hurt. 

Now she just feels relief. She doesn’t want to have to see them. Doesn’t want them to complain about everything they’ve lost because of her. Because they lost everything because of the Emperor and Vader, and she just doesn’t have it in her today to correct them.

She glides over Maz’s castle and lands in the outskirts of the little village on the other side of the lake. 

There is a little stone cottage, happily situated among the trees. She’d chosen it because it had a dock and a sandy beach. She loves sand. 

She lands in the clearing a little ways into the trees. She reads over her notes before exiting her one man fighter, but leaves them and the holo recording in the cockpit. As she makes her way to the cottage, she looks up at the trees. There are more platforms and ladders among the branches since she was here the last time, but the little treehouse isn’t completed yet. 

She looks nothing like the woman who lit up the holonet just two days ago. She’s in sturdy spacer leathers. Her face is devoid of even the basic makeup to hide the growing lines of a woman in her 30s. Her dark hair is braided and coiled around her head. She feels, truly, uncomfortable and exposed, even though no one here hasn’t seen her like this before. Even though she knows it is necessary to keep everyone safe, herself included. 

She stalks through the trees, quiet as she can, comes out next to the house. She knows she’s expected (she’s late, actually) but no one is there to greet her. She wonders if maybe they are at Maz’s or in the village. 

But then the side door opens, and most of the little family comes out. The children, clad in bathing clothes, are headed in the direction of the lake, but she doesn’t have to say a word for them to whip their heads around and see her.

“Mama” Their cries echo to through the trees, and Padme lets out a real smile. The one no one else ever gets to see. 

They run to her, and she kneels down to capture both of them in her arms. They’ve grown a lot in six months time. Soon, on her next visit, she suspects, they’ll be too big for her to hold both of them.

Beru follows them to greet her, a mirror smile on her face.

“Mama, do you want to come and swim with use.” 

“Now now,” Beru says, “Give her a moment, she only just got here. Let her catch her breath.” 

“It's fine,” Padme promises, even though she really does need at least a few more minutes on solid ground, and she can’t go swimming until she’s unpacked and found bathing dress. She hugs them tighter just the same 

“Happy birthday Luke! Happy birthday Leia!” Padme gives them each a kiss on the cheek. 

Padme hasn’t had a home in five years. Not since her husband tried to kill all three of them and then joined a monster who destroyed her life's work.

But tucked away in the western reaches, far from where she politics and plots, in these two little children, her heart waits . 

**Author's Note:**

> Check us out on tumblr [lukeleiahan](http://lukeleiahan.tumblr.com/) [darkmagyk](http://darkmagyk.tumblr.com/).  
> We don't normally respond to comments, so if you have a question about this or one of our other AUs, tumblr is the best place to reach me (darkmagyk) or Chris (lukeleiahan).


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